Electrical connector

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connector, more particularly to an electrical connector with grounding element to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI).

2. Description of Related Art

China patent issue No. CN202797485U, issued on Mar. 13, 2013, discloses a conventional electrical connector including an insulative housing, a plurality of contacts retained in the insulative housing, and a shell attached to the insulative housing. The shell surrounds the insulative housing to form a mating cavity. The shell has a contact portion extending into the mating cavity forwardly from a top wall thereof The contact portion contacts with a grounding contact. However such arrangement can not well improve the anti-EMI effect of the electrical connector or reduce cross talking between the signal terminals.

Hence, an improved electrical connector with improved structure is needed to solve the problem above.

According to one aspect of the present invention, an electrical connector includes an insulative housing, a metal shell covering the insulative housing, a plurality of electrical terminals and a auxiliary terminal received in the insulative housing. The electrical terminals includes a number of first contacts. The first contacts include a grounding contact in the middle and some signal contacts on both sides of the grounding contact. The auxiliary terminals includes the retaining portion received in insulative housing and the connecting portion downwardly bent from an end of the retaining portion. The retaining portion has a first spring tab and the connecting has a second spring tab. The first spring tab contacts with the metal shell and the second spring tab contacts with the grounding contact.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention.

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector in a first embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partially exploded, perspective view of the electrical connector;

FIG. 3 is another partially exploded, perspective view of the electrical connector without a shell;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector taken along line 4 - 4 of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 is a partially exploded, perspective view of the electrical connector;

FIG. 6 is a similar view to FIG. 5 , but taken from another aspect;

FIG. 7 is an assembled, perspective view of another electrical connector in alternative embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a partially exploded, perspective view of the electrical connector in FIG. 7 ;

FIG. 9 is a similar view to FIG. 8 , but taken from another aspect; and

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the electrical connector taken along line 10 - 10 of FIG. 7 .

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the most part, details concerning timing considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art.

Please referring to FIGS. 1-3 , an electrical connector 100 includes an insulative housing 1 , a plurality of contacts 3 retained in the insulative housing 1 , a shell 2 enclosing the insulative housing 1 and a auxiliary contact 4 assembled to the insulative housing 1 .

Please reference to FIGS. 5-6 , the insulative housing 1 includes a base portion 11 , a tongue portion 12 extending forwardly from the base portion 11 and a spacer 13 retained in a rear of the base portion 11 . The base portion 11 includes a top portion 111 , a bottom portion 112 opposite to the top portion 111 and two side portions 113 connecting with the top portion 111 and the bottom portion 112 . The base portion 11 defines a recess 1111 recessed from a middle of the top portion 111 and two slots 1112 recessed from two sidewalls of the recesses 1111 along a transverse direction of the recess 1111 . The base portion 11 also defines two raises 1121 extending downwardly from the bottom portion 112 . The two side portions 113 have a plurality of ribs 1131 protruding outwardly. The tongue portion 12 includes a top surface 121 , a bottom surface 122 opposite to the top surface 121 , and the bottom surface 122 defines four receiving passageways 1222 in a row and five retaining passageways 1221 in another row and in front of the receiving passageways 1222 .

The spacer 13 comprises a body portion 131 and a supporting portion 132 extending forwardly from a bottom of the body portion 131 . The body portion 131 includes a front end face 1311 , two side end faces 1312 , a top end face 1313 and a bottom end face 1314 opposite to the top end face 1313 . The body portion 131 further has a plurality of first contact receiving slots 13131 passing therethrough along an upper to bottom direction. The middle one of the first contact receiving slots 13131 is wider than the other first contact receiving slots 13131 . The body portion 131 has a plurality of retaining blocks 13111 extending downwardly from the top end face 1313 of the body portion 131 to the upper supporting portion 132 . The supporting portion 132 defines a pair of through holes 1321 used for receiving the raises 1121 of the base portion 11 so that the support portion 132 can be firmly assembled to the base portion 11 . The supporting portion 132 also has a plurality of second contact receiving slots 1322 behind the through holes 1321 and in front of the retaining blocks 13111 .

Please referring to FIGS. 1, 5-6 , the shell 2 is stamped from a metal piece and bent to surround the tongue portion 12 to form a receiving room 10 . The shell 2 includes a top wall 21 , a bottom wall 22 opposite to the top wall 21 , two side walls 23 and a rear wall 24 . The rear wall 24 is bent from the side walls 23 . Each of the top wall 21 , the bottom wall 22 and the side walls 23 has one or one pair elastic pieces 211 , 221 , 231 protruding into the receiving room 10 , and the top wall 21 further has a resisting arm 212 between the pair of the elastic pieces 211 to strengthen an insertion force with the mating plug (not shown). The two side walls 23 have front retaining legs 232 extending downwardly beyond the bottom wall 22 , and the rear wall 24 has back retaining legs 241 extending downwardly beyond the bottom wall 22 to be mounted on a printed circuit board (not shown). The two side walls 23 further have retaining slots 233 closed to the rear wall 24 and used to cooperate with the ribs 1131 of the base portion 11 so as to strengthen the housing 1 and the shell 2 .

Please referring to FIGS. 4-6 , the contacts 3 comprises a plurality of first contacts 31 insert molded in the insulative housing 1 and a plurality of second contacts 32 assembled to the insulative housing 1 forwardly. Each of the first contacts 31 has a first retaining portion (not shown) retained to the tongue portion 12 , a planar first contacting portion 312 extending forwardly from the first retaining portion (not shown) into the retaining passageways 1221 , and a first connecting portion 313 extending from the first retaining portion (not shown) and downwardly received in the first contact receiving slot 13131 of the spacer 13 and a first soldering portion 314 extending beyond the spacer 13 . The second contact 32 includes a retaining portion 321 , a second contacting portion 322 extending forwardly from the second retaining portion 321 , a second connecting portion 323 extending from the second retaining portion 321 and downwardly received in the second contact receiving slots 1322 and a second soldering portion 324 extending beyond the spacer 13 .

The contacts 3 have five first contacts 31 including two pairs of differential signal contacts 34 and a grounding contact 33 between the two pairs. The first connecting portion 313 of the grounding contact 33 is wider than the first connecting portion 313 of the differential signal contacts 34 . The first connecting portion 313 of one of the differential signal contacts 34 closed to the grounding contact 33 is offset along a direction far away from the grounding contact 33 relative to the corresponding first soldering portion 314 to increase a distance between the differential signal contacts 34 with the grounding contact 33 to reduce the signal cross talking between the contacts 3 .

Please reference to FIGS. 2-5 , the auxiliary contact 4 with roughly reverse L-shaped is stamped from a metal piece. The auxiliary contact 4 include a retaining portion 41 horizontally received in the recess 1111 of the base portion 11 and a connecting portion 42 extending downwardly from a rear edge of the retaining portion 41 and received in the spacer 13 . The connecting portion 41 is located behind the first and second connecting portions 313 , 323 of the contacts 3 , the retaining portion 41 is located at a top of the first and second retaining portion 311 , 321 . The connecting portion 42 of the auxiliary contact 4 and the first connecting portion 313 of the grounding contact 33 are received in a same first contact receiving slot 13131 . The retaining portion 41 is torn to form a first shrapnel 411 elastically contacting against the top wall 21 of the shell 2 . And the connecting portion 42 is torn to form a second shrapnel 421 elastically contacting against the first connecting portion 313 of the grounding contact 33 . The retaining portion 41 further has two latches 412 protruding outwardly and being received in the slots 1112 so as to limit the auxiliary contact 4 to move back and forth. When the shell 2 is assembled to the insulative housing 1 , the first shrapnel 411 elastically contacts against the top wall 21 of the shell 2 so that the shell 2 provides a reactive force to the retaining portion 41 so as to limit the retaining portion 41 and prevent the auxiliary contact 4 from falling off The auxiliary contact 4 electrically connects with the grounding contact 33 to the shell 2 which is reliably grounded, so that electromagnetic interference (EMI) of the electrical connector 100 can be reduced.

FIGS. 7-10 discloses another electrical connector 200 in alternative embodiment according to present invention. The electrical connector 200 has a plurality of contacts (not labeled), a shell (not labeled), a spacer 14 , an insulative housing (not labeled) and an auxiliary contact 5 . The electrical connector 200 is substantially same as the connector 100 , but the auxiliary 5 is only attached to the spacer 14 , so the insulative housing does not need to dispose recess or slot for receiving the auxiliary contact 5 , and the spacer 14 is modified relative to the spacer 13 for the auxiliary contact 5 , the detail description will be give in blow.

The spacer 14 has a body portion 141 and a supporting portion 142 extending forwardly from a bottom of the body portion 141 . The body portion 141 includes a front end face 1411 , two side end faces 1412 , a top end face 1413 , and a rear end face 1415 opposite to the front end face 1411 . The spacer 14 further has a plurality of first contact retaining slots 14131 passing therethrough along an upper to bottom direction. The auxiliary contact 5 and a grounding contact 33 ′ are both received in the middle one of the first contact receiving slots 14131 . The spacer 14 is substantially same as the spacer 13 in the electrical connector 100 , except that the rear end face 1415 , different from the rear end face 1415 , defines an opening 1418 . The opening 1418 is throughout the body portion 141 and communicates with the middle one of the first contact receiving slots 14131 . The auxiliary contact 5 is located between the grounding contact 33 ′ and a rear wall 24 ′ of shell 2 .

The auxiliary contact 5 includes a flat portion 51 received in the middle one of the first contact receiving slots 14131 , a first spring tab 511 extending upwardly and rearward from an upper part of the flat portion 51 and a second spring tab 512 extending upwardly and forwardly from a lower part of the flat portion 51 . The first spring tab 511 and the second spring tab 512 are torn from the flat portion 51 and located respectively at a front and a rear of the flat portion 51 . The auxiliary contact 5 is assembled to the spacer 14 along an upper to bottom direction, and the first spring tab 511 passes through the opening 1418 backwardly and elastically contacts against the rear wall 24 ′ of the shell 2 ′. The second spring tab 512 elastically contacts against the first connecting 313 ′ of the grounding contact 33 ′.

Referring to FIGS. 1-10 , the auxiliary contact 4 of the electrical connector 100 at least has one first shrapnel 411 contacting against the shell 2 and one second shrapnel 421 contacting against the grounding contact 33 so as to increase the contact points with the grounding contact 33 and the grounding paths to avoid electromagnetic interference (EMI) and reduce the signal cross talking.

It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed. For example, the tongue portion is extended in its length or is arranged on a reverse side thereof opposite to the supporting side with other contacts but still holding the contacts with an arrangement indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.